Sorting machine



A. JURIGA SORTING MACHINE April 4, 1939.

Filed Jan.

22, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ATTORNEY A. JURIGA SORTING MACHINE April 4, 1939.

Filed Jan. 22, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 4, 1939 UNITED STATES SORTING MACHINE Anton Juriga, Kothen,

Germany, assignor to International Business Machines Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application January 22, 1937, Serial No. 121,809 In Germany June 26, 1936 3 Claims.

which controls the completion of an electric circuit upon the sensing of a perforation in a selected column of the record. The leading edge of the record card successively passes the ends of blades which form passage-ways leading to different sorting pockets. As the leading edge of the card successively passes beneath the blades, those in advance of the leading edge may be caused to drop below the record card, thus forming a passage-way which is selected in accordance with the position which the edgeof the card occupies at the time the blades are lowered. In accordance with the present invention, the sorting blades are separated into two groups each operated by a separate tripping mechanism. The one group of blades corresponds to the even numbered index point positions of the record card and the other group corresponds to the odd numbered index point positions. In this manner, the ends of succeeding blades in any group are spaced twice as far apart as heretofore, which doubles the time interval within which the tripping mechanism can function.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be obvious from the following particular description of one form of mechanism embodying the invention or from an inspection of the accompanying drawings; and the invention also constitutes certain new and useful features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a vertical longitudinal section of a portion of a sorting machine in which the invention may be embodied.

Fig. 2 is a diagram of the electrical connections of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a drawing in perspective of the group sorting blade arrangement and operating mechanism.

The International electric sorting machine is now well known in the art and its various details of construction are disclosed in a number of patents of which Patent No. 1,741,985 and Patent No. 1,741,992 show most of the general details of the machine as it is known to commerce. Since the aforesaid patents are very detailed, it will be unnecessary to give more than a very brief description of the general features of construction herein.

supply magazine and traverse a sensing brush Record cards 20 (Fig. 1) are placed in the usual magazine and removed one by one from the bottom of the stack by a picker 2| mounted on the slide 22 which is actuated by means of arms like 23, the latter being fixed to shaft 24 journaled in the framework of the machine. A link 25 pivoted to one of the arms 23 is also pivoted to a crank pin 26 carried by a crank 21 on a shaft (not shown) which is driven at the rate of one revolution per record cycle through suitable spiral gearing connecting the said shaft and the main drive shaft 28. The latter is shown in broken lines in Fig. 1. Each record removed from the magazine by the picker 2| is gripped by feed rollers 29 driven by spiral gearing from shaft 28 and by said rollers is fed to the left to pass the usual sensing brush 30 which coacts with the usual metallic contact roll 3! to sense data designating holes in the records.

As the record passes beneath the sensing brush 3!) it passes over fixed guide plates 32 (see Fig. 3). In the space between the plates 32 are located, for the purposes of the present invention, two parallel plates 33a. and 33b. These plates lie in the plane of the fixed plates 32 and the record card as it advances over these plates and beneath the up-turned ends of guide blades 34a and 34b which lead to the usual receiving pockets (not shown) of which thirteen may be provided, twelve to correspond to the usual twelve possible index point positions in the columns of the records and one for records having no hole in the particular column sensed by the brush 30. The latter pocket is commonly termed the reject pocket. The plates 33a, 33b are integral with the armatures of sorting magnets 35a and 35b, respectively, which are provided with suitable knife-edge pivots and with springs 36 which normally hold the bars in the position shown in Fig. 3. Suitable feed rollers as 35 (Fig. 1) serve to convey the records to the various pockets selected by operation of the magnets 35a and 35b in the well known manner, such records being guided to the appropriate pockets by the guide blades 34a and 34b. The plates 33a. and 33?) are normally held up by the springs 36 and will be drawn down a certain amount whenever their magnets are energized. The ends of the blades are so disposed relative to the brush 30 that when, for example, a 9 hole in the record is sensed, the leading edge of the record in which such hole appears will occupy a position between the end of the blade 34b leading to the 9 pocket and the end of the blade 34a leading to the 8 pocket, this position being approximately indicated, in dotted outline in Fig. 3. At this time, energization of the magnet 35a, in a manner to be explained, as a consequence of the hole sensed by the-brush 30, will cause the record having the 9 hole to be guided to the 9 pocket since all the even numbered blades 34a to the left of the leading a gap between the 9 and the 8 blades. The blades 34b will, of course, remain in their upper position resting on bar 33b, but the edge of the card will be deflected upwardly along the outer curvature of the 8 blade 34a so that the card Will pass over the 7 and lesser numbered blades-34o in its transit toward the 9 pocket.

In the same fashion, if the column sensed contained a perforation in the 8 index point position, the leading edge of the card, at'the time of sensing this hole, would lie'between the ends of the 8 blade 34a and the 7 blade 34b and the.

circuit completed through the 8 hole will cause energization of the magnet 35b, dropping the 7 and lesser numbered blades 3412 so that the continued movement of the card will cause itto be guided between the 8 and 7 blades with the 8 pocket as its destination.

Referring now to Fig. 2, the usual control circuits will be briefly described. When the start key contacts 37.are closed, relay magnets 38 and 39 are energized and they close their contacts 33a and 39a to complete the circuit through the driving motor M. The contacts 31 are held closed until cards are advanced sufiiciently to cooperate with the usual card lever and cause closure of the card lever contacts 40 whereupona holding circuit is established through the card lever contacts 40, the stop key contacts 4|, relay contacts 381) and the relays 38 and 39.. The machine, once started, will continue operating until the stop key contacts 4| are manually opened, or until the supply of cards is exhausted and card 'lever contacts 40 open.

In carrying out the invention, a modified form;

of distributor 42 is provided having a common conducting ring 43 which has electrical connection with a ring of contact segments 44 and a second ring of similar segments 45. Thesesegments are traversed by brushes 46 and 41 respectively and the timing is such that the segments v44 contact with the brush 46 for the odd numbered index point positions and the segments 45 contact with the brush 4'! when the even numbered index point positions of the card are at the sensing brush 36.

Assuming the card having a 9 perforation in the column which the brush 30 is positioned to sense, a circuit will be completed when the 9 hole is beneath the brush 3|] which is traceable from left side of line 48, common brush 49, contact roll 3|, 9 perforation in the card, brush 30,

brush 53, common ring 43, the 9 segment 44,

brush 45, relay magnet sorting magnet 35:}, to line 52. Relay 5| closes its contacts 5|a to provide a holding circuit through the holding commutator 53 which is traceable from line 48, holding commutator 53 and its related brushes, contacts 55a, relay 5|, magnet 35a to line 52. Energization of magnet 35a in response to a 9 hole will, as explained above, open a passage for the record card between the 8 and 9 blades. In a similar manner, a perforation in one of the even numbered index point positions, for example, a perforation in the 8 position, will complete a circuit fromline 48, brush 49, contact roll 3|, 8

perforation in the card, brush 3!], brush 50, common ring 43, the 8 segment 45, brush 41, relay magnet 54, sorting magnet 35b, to line 52. Relay 54 closes its contacts 54a to provide a holding pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a single modification, it

will beunderstood that various omissions and substitutions andzchanges in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention therefore to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In combination, an analyzing device comprising means for causing electric current to flow through holes in afcard, a pair of magnets operable by said analyzing device, a pair of groups of superimposed blades forming distributing passages for the cards, the receiving end of the first blade of one group being longer than the end of the first blade of the second group, the end of the first blade of said second group being longer than the end of the j second blade of the first group and so on, andall the blade ends of each group resting on a separate plate so positioned that said card while emerging from the analyzing devices passes between the blade ends and said plates, means for bringing about a lowering of either plate and all of the blades on such plate except thosesuperimposed upon the card being analyzed upon the analyzation of a card to thereby open a passageway for the card between a blade in one group and a blade in the other group, the particular passage opened depending upon the position of the card at the instant of lowering the blades.

2. In a card sorting machine, in combination, a feeding device; an "analyzing device comprising means for. causing electric current to flow through holes in the card, a plurality of superimposed blades forming passages between them for cards, the first and alternate blades comprising one group and the second'and alternate blades comprising a second group, a pair of magnet armatures one for each group, movable in response to said analyzing means, the receiving ends of each group of blades resting upon the related armature, and the armatures operating in conjunction with the card to open a passageway for the card between a blade of one group and a blade of the second'group,

-3 In amachine for sorting cards into difierent receiving pockets, guide blades leading to said pockets, said blades ending in parallel card entrance ends, the first and alternate odd numbered blades comprising one group, and the second and alternate even numbered blades comprising a second group, the ends of the two groups being laterally spaced from each other, the entrance ends in each group being superimposed'and longitudinally spaced from each other, a pair of separate plates, one normally supporting the ends of one group and the other normally supporting the ends of the other group of blades and means for eifecting relative vertical displacement between said plates to cause like relative displacement between the ends of the two groupsof blades.

' ANTON JURIGA. 

